Generic education

Generic education is the part of education which is of general value, the education a resident on planet earth in the 21st century should have in order to be reasonably knowledgeable and universally understood by others. Generic Education provides the common language for the definition and interpretation of facts, a step-up on the ladder to greater understanding and potential enlightenment. Generic Education is globalization at the grassroots level, a prime requirement for economic and industrial globalization to work.

What is Generic Education
The concept of generic education was proposed by Win Straube in his book, "QGE=A, Quality Generic Education is the Answer". Generic Education means the identification and practice of objective, unarguable values. Generic Education can be taught and learned anywhere because it is free from cultural or political baggage, yet it is understood on all sides as a shared, generally accepted version. Generic Education is universally measurable, which means that learners’ proficiency in the studied subjects can be tested. It also means that the tests used are either identical or at least comparable in different locations and as administered at different times. In other words: The level of proficiency to pass a specific test needs to be as close to identical to every other such test as possible.

Generic Education means "proficiency in" a certain science, art, or other subject which is agreed on by all or almost all. For example, 2 plus 2 equals 4, "love" in French is "amour", the moon is a satellite of planet earth, and the water we drink is H2O. These examples from mathematics, languages, astronomy, and chemistry demonstrate their generic educational nature. Of course there are fields of study which may have a generic base but are everything but generic when studied in-depth, such as psychology. In these circumstances, there may be different "schools" teaching particular views that are hotly contested by others. The contested parts need to be excluded from Generic Education, although a particular view may eventually become the commonly held belief or "truth". That is when it would become suitable for Generic Education.

Quality Generic Education
Quality generic education is the best generic education available at the lowest possible cost, and universally acceptable and interchangeable. Thus the classroom can come to anybody at any place where he/she can be in front of a computer or TV screen, such as in his home or in a location set up for the learning experience, like a satellite campus of a community college. Likewise, anybody being exposed to such educational presentations will be able to interact with them, asking questions, receiving additional and deeper background information, taking tests, and communicating with a teacher, regardless whether that teacher is physically nearby or continents away. In addition, learning support would be supplied by "education facilitators" who could be the parents or one parent, fellow students, or others.

How Does Quality Generic Education Work
Here are a few random examples of how Generic Education via Distance Learning actually works, though many more modes of operation are in use worldwide, always suited to a particular audience. Basically they all consist of three or four components:
1. The production and preparation of learning materials.
2. The presentation of either live or recorded lectures.
3. Transmission via electronic media such as television or computer networks, internet and email hookups; at times interactive for teacher/student exchanges and also for student-to-student exchanges.
4. Some of the programs include personal meetings or classroom attendance, particularly in preparation of and for examinations. However, many programs work entirely long distance where teacher and student never meet in person.
 
< Prev   Next >